Business | Economy
WTO sees trade growth slowing to 6% this year
Growth in international trade will remain strong in 2007 although it will slip to 6 per cent from 8 per cent last year as global economic expansion slows, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 April 13, 2007
Geneva: Growth in international trade will remain strong in 2007 although it will slip to 6 per cent from 8 per cent last year as global economic expansion slows, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday.
In their first forecast for 2007, WTO economists said the outlook was based on expectations that the world economy would expand some 3 per cent this year, below last year's 3.7 per cent.
World trade growth in 2006 was above the previous WTO forecast for 7 per cent and the second highest figure since 2000, reflecting stronger than expected economic growth in Japan and Europe, the Geneva-based trade body said in a report.
Developing countries' share of world trade rose to a record 36 per cent, with China's trade growth continuing to outstrip all others, it said.
In the second half of 2006, China's exports of goods exceeded those of the United States for the first time, although for the year as a whole it stayed third in the rankings.
Germany remained the world's number one exporter of goods, although on current trends China could seize top spot in 2008, according to WTO economists, who had long predicted such a development by 2010.
"The first quarter data shows that Chinese exports continued to grow rapidly, less pronounced but still very strong, and the trend in US export growth is less strong," WTO senior economist Michael Finger said. "On the basis of last year's numbers, it will be next year," he said when asked when China could become the world's top exporter. "But these things depend very much on exchange rate developments. These are guesses," he added.
Despite its huge trade deficit, the United States registered its best growth in goods' exports in a decade at more than 14 per cent, the WTO said.
Doha Round: US official sees no breakthrough
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said she expected no breakthrough from trade talks in New Delhi although she expected the pace of negotiations to accelerate.
"We are not expecting a breakthrough here. This is a stock-taking meeting," Schwab said. "There is a sense of momentum. There is a sense of urgency."
Trade ministers from the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil are holding their second day of meetings in the Indian capital to try to negotiate a breakthrough in world trade talks.
- Reuters
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